Moodle FAQs - for staff

Q1: How do I log onto Moodle? 

Go to http://moodle.lse.ac.uk/ and log in with your Microsoft Office 365 account (your LSE email address and password). 

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screenshot of Moodle front page, not logged in

If you do not have an LSE email address, but have been granted permission to access Moodle through a public account, you should instead log in with the LSE Identity Provider as a registered guest. Your username will be the email address you used to set up your public account, and your password will be the one you chose when the account was created.

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screenshot of LSE Moodle login page

Q2: I don’t know my Moodle username/password

Your Moodle log-in is the same email address/password you use to log into any LSE Office 365 app (e.g. Outlook, OneDrive). The email address should end ‘@lse.ac.uk’.

If you cannot remember your LSE password please see the DTS password guidance page for help.

For public account users, your username is the email address you used when setting up the account and the password is the one you chose at that time. If you cannot remember these details, please contact eden.digital@lse.ac.uk.

Q3: How do I change my Moodle password?

Your Moodle password is always the same as your LSE network password. If you need or want to change your password, follow the directions the DTS guide to changing your LSE password. 

Q4: Where can I find my courses?

The easiest place to find your courses is in ‘My Courses’, which you can always find by clicking the mortar board symbol on the left hand menu. You can then filter your courses to ‘In Progress', ‘Past’, or ‘Future’, to find courses that are currently active, courses from previous years, and courses that have not yet begun:

You can also find your courses from your personal dashboard. After you log in, Moodle automatically directs you to it: the URL is: https://moodle.lse.ac.uk/my/

By default, your dashboard will show your recently accessed items, a Timeline (which tells you what’s coming up in which course, e.g. assignment deadlines) and below this “Course Overview”, which provides the same information as ‘My Courses’.

Anyone (students, staff) can customise the order these things appear on their dashboard by clicking on “edit mode” in the top right hand corner.

Q5: Where is the editing button located?

The editing button is located in the top right hand corner of the course image on a Moodle page.

Q6: What is the difference between ‘Teacher’ role and ‘Teacher (Editor)’ role on Moodle?

• Teacher – When you have this role on a Moodle course you can see student grades, read their assignments, view their activity, give them marks etc.

• Teacher (Editor) – When you have this role on a Moodle course, in addition to the above you can edit the course.

Q7: How do I become a ‘Teacher’ or ‘Teacher (Editor)’ on Moodle?

If you enrol yourself on a course, you only have student level access.  This means you cannot see student grades, read their assignments, view their activity etc.  To do that you need to be a ‘Teacher’ or ‘Teacher (Editor)’ on the course.

• To become a ‘Teacher’ – contact your Moodle editor, who will then give you (non-editing) ‘Teacher’ access.  If you are not sure who is editing you course, look in the Navigation block for the Participants list, then choose Teacher (Editor) from the menu at the top.

• To become a ‘Teacher (Editor)’ – If you need to be able to edit the course yourself then you will need to be a teacher (editor).  Some departments have the ability to create Teacher Editors.  Check with your administration team to see if this is the case, if it is not then please contact eden.digital@lse.ac.uk, giving the course code and the name of the lead academic.

Q8: I edited a file, but my changes don’t show up

Did you upload it to Moodle? The files on your computer or on your H: space and the files within Moodle are completely independent.  If you change a file on your H: space, for example, it remains unchanged on Moodle until you upload it.

Turn on editing and click on the Update button alongside the file in Moodle.  Click Add.. to re-upload the file and choose to overwrite the old one.

Q9: I can’t download a file for editing

You can’t save a file from the course by right-clicking and choosing “Save as…”.  This just saves the Moodle ‘container’ page, rather than the file itself.  To save the file, click on the link first to open it in the browser, then use File > Save as… from the browser menu.

Q10: I want to use Moodle for something other than teaching 

Use of Moodle at LSE is supported only for the purposes of teaching and learning (including staff development).  The Digital Education team are unable to support the use of Moodle for purely administrative purposes or other non-teaching uses.  There are a variety of other tools that may be suitable for your requirements. Contact eden.digital@lse.ac.uk with an outline of what you are looking for and we can get back to you with some alternatives. 

Q11: How do I prepare my course for a new academic year? 

New Moodle courses are created each June and can then be edited at any time by Managers or Teacher(Editor)s ahead of the new academic year.

We have created a checklist to help you prepare your course:

Get your course ready for the start of term: Moodle Checklist

Each September, before the start of an academic year we recommend you review this checklist.

Q12: How do I make my course available to people outside LSE? 

We may be able to provide access for guest teachers and external examiners via LSE Public Accounts. These are accounts that allow for limited access to LSE Moodle without granting users a full LSE IT user account. Please contact Eden.Digital@lse.ac.uk to request an LSE Public Account for access to Moodle. 

Q13. How do I prevent people from enrolling themselves onto my course?

1. Use the new Quick Navigation links: Click on Participants, then choose Enrolment methods from the Enrolments menu.

2. Click on the ‘eye’ icon to close it which will result in the self enrolment option for the course to unavailable (greyed out). The only enrolment method that should now be listed is ‘Manual enrolments’.

Q14. How do I add students or teachers to my Moodle course?

Click on Participants in the Quick Navigation Menu. From there you can Enrol students and teachers by clicking on the Enrol button. In the new window:

1. Choose the role you wish to add in the menu at the top.

2. Type the student or teacher’s surname into the search field at the bottom and press enter.

3. Find their name in the list, and click Enrol to add them to the course.

You may want to check if they are already enrolled, so check current enrolments.

If they are already in your course, but do not have the correct role:

1. Check the Roles column to see what role they have. If the role they need (e.g. student, teacher) is not listed, click the pencil button and choose the appropriate role.

Q15. How do I check which students have access to my course?

1. Log onto Moodle and go to your course.

2. In the Administration block click ‘users’, ‘enrolled users’.

3. Check who has enrolled on your course and add or remove students.

See ‘How do I add students or teachers to my Moodle course?’ and ‘How do I remove students or teachers from my Moodle course?’.

Q16. How do I remove students or teachers from my Moodle course?

Go to your course on Moodle, and in the Administration block, go to Course administration > Users > Enrolled users. Find the person in the list of enrolled users.

1. Hover over the ‘i’ icon in the Status column to see how they have been enrolled to your course.

2. Click the red ‘dustbin’ icon (unenrol) in the Status column.

3. A warning message will appear: Do you really want to un-enrol user “Firstname Lastname” from course “coursename”?

4. If you wish to do so, click “Unenrol”.

Q17. How do I restrict access of a Moodle course to specific students using an enrolment key?

Anyone with an active LSE account will be able to enrol (add themselves as a student) onto Moodle courses. If you want to restrict access to specific students you can create an enrolment key.

An enrolment key is a password you create and distribute to only those you want to have access to your Moodle course. For example you can create an enrolment key in Moodle and distribute it to your students during their first class or lecture.

To set an enrolment key (or view/remove an existing one):

1. Log onto Moodle and go to your course.

2. Click on Participants, then choose from dropdown Enrolment methods

4. Click on the ‘cog’ icon (‘edit’) in the Edit column of ‘Self enrolment’

5. Enter an enrolment key. Click on the ‘eye’ icon (‘reveal’) to see what you are typing.

6. To remove an existing enrolment key, just delete it.

7. Click ‘Save changes‘ at the bottom of the page.

You will notice that there are a number of other settings you can use to control self enrolment. Click the grey question mark next to each one to find out more.

To manage enrolments (i.e. control who has access to your course) you can follow the steps below:

1. Request that all students enrol by a specific date.

2. Once this date has passed change the enrolment key so that no further enrolments are accepted.

3. Check who has enrolled onto your course and add or remove students.  See ‘How do I add students or teachers to my Moodle course?’ and ‘How do I remove students or teachers from my Moodle course?’.

If you have any problems viewing recorded lectures please email eden.digital@lse.ac.uk.

Q18. How do I make my course available for students?

By default courses are set to be unavailable to students. Once your course is ready, you can make it available to students by following the steps below:

1. Log onto Moodle and go to your course

2. Click on the Settings link

3. Change the ‘Course Visibility’ setting to ‘Show’

4. Click ‘Save’ changes on the bottom of the page

Your course will now be listed and will appear on students ‘My courses’ lists when students search for it.

Note: When a course is available anyone with an active LSE account can enrol (have access) to it. If you wish to restrict the access of your Moodle course to only your students you can use an enrolment key.

Q19. I want to request a new Moodle course, what do I do?

To request the creation of a new course email eden.digital@lse.ac.uk the following information:

1. The name of the course including the Course Code.

2. The name(s) of the Teachers/Editors to be added onto the course

The Eden digital team will create the course and email you back.

Q20. How do I add a course image?

Adding an image to your course is a very simple process. You can find instructions on how to do this in our guide to adding a Moodle course hero image.

Q21. What image size should I use for the course image?

Images should conform to the minimum and maximum resolutions as noted below. Images should maintain a 4:1 aspect ration. More information on this can be found in our guide.

• Minimum resolution: 1200 x 300px (WxH)

• Maximum resolution: 2560 x 640px (WxH)

Q22. What is a 'Key Holder'?

A Key Holder is a user that is noted down on the system as having/knowing the enrolment key – providing that your course is using the self-enrolment method with an enrolment key. Not all courses use enrolment keys or have the option to self-enrol.

Q23. How do I make someone a Key Holder?

There are two main ways of making someone a Key Holder: at course and category level. Both of these methods are outlined in our guide to making someone a Moodle enrolment key holder.

Q24. How do I change to student view in Moodle?

. Click on your profile picture/icon at the top of the site and from the dropdown select Switch role to…